None of my instruments or plugins (Logic Pro) appear in Scaler3. I’ve tried rescanning (also in standalone version) but the pop up window hangs “Waiting to start scan ……..”. Left it for 30 minutes but no progress. Andy ideas?
Hi @andycarney, welcome to the forum.
Just to clarify, Scaler 3 can host standard AU or VST plugins, but Logic’s built-in instruments and effects (like Alchemy, for example) use a proprietary format that only Logic can load. To use Logic’s synths, you can route MIDI from Scaler 3 to a Logic channel hosting those instruments, or use the Scaler 3 Control plugin (MIDI FX) on a channel hosting a Logic instrument.
If you’re saying that your third-party instruments or plugins aren’t appearing in Scaler 3, I recommend the following:
- Download and install to Scaler 3.2
- As part of the installation, Scaler 3’s Plugin Scanner will launch automatically. Click Scan and wait for it to complete (depending on how many plugins are installed, this may take some time.)
- Reboot your machine.
If your third-party instruments still don’t appear, a clean install of Scaler 3.2 may be necessary. Instructions can be found at the bottom of this thread.
Hope that helps, let us know how you get on.
Thanks Steven,
Understand about the Logic instruments as I picked that up from the introduction video.
I’m in the process of a clean install on my Mac but it’s still hanging around “Waiting to start scan …..” I’ve also specified additional paths for the scan where I know I have plugins.
No sign of any scan starting at the moment to complete the installation, but I’ll leave it a couple of hours to see if it springs into action: not feeling very confident at this stage.
Will update you later.
Andy
Waited 4 hours now and still stuck showing “Waiting to start scan….”
Have had to “Skip” to complete the installation, therefore no instruments or plugins had been scanned into Scaler
I downloaded the Installer from my Product Page and the Scaler Website: could it be a bug in that version of the Installer?
Andy
Hi @andycarney. Thanks for the details. We haven’t had any issues reported with the plugin scan using the Scaler Music installer.
Waiting four hours on “Waiting to start scan…” is definitely not normal. My initial thought was that it might be related to system permissions or security settings, but I just tested by removing all permissions for Scaler 3 (Full Disk Access, Files and Folders) and the scan still ran successfully without stalling. For context, I’m running macOS Sequoia 15.5.
It might still be worth quickly checking system permissions or security settings on your end. Could you let me know which macOS version you’re running? That will help us troubleshoot further.
Cheers.
Hi Steven,
I’m running Ventura 13.7.8
Andy
I made sure Scaler had access to Full Disc, Folders and Files, and reinstalled but that hasn’t worked
Hi Steven,
I’ve checked all of the security settings and repeated the clean install, but scaler still doesn’t scan.
Any further suggestions?
Andy
Hi @andycarney, thanks for your replies. Bit stumped with this unfortunately. Is it possible there’s a pop-up or dialog window sitting behind the PluginScanner window waiting to be clicked?
You can run the scan independently of the installation process from within Scaler 3 via Settings > Preferences > Rescan Your Plugins.
Alternatively, (even though you’ve done a clean install a few times) with Scaler 3 closed you could delete the “plugins” files located in: /Users/[NAME]/Library/Scaler Music/Scaler 3
Then double-click the PluginScanner app in the same folder.
It might also be worth making sure all other apps are closed, and as mentioned, checking that there isn’t a pop-up or dialog window in the background waiting to be clicked. If you like, you could take a quick video of the process and share it with us via a cloud link, which we can pass on to the dev team.
Hi Steven, followed the instructions as above but still no resolution.
I’ve done a short video if it helps
https://www.dropbox.com/t/HWSak0c7xwXAGUAd
Andy
Hi @andycarney, thanks for the screen recording - it really helped clarify what’s happening.
It looks like the plugin scan is getting stuck because it’s trying to search entire external drives at the root level. Scaler 3’s scanner works best when you point it to specific folders containing plugins, rather than whole volumes or folders containing entire libraries.
Here’s a suggested approach:
- Run the scan on defaults first – remove all custom VST paths for now and let the PluginScanner scan the standard plugin folders. This ensures the basics are working. Check the results in Scaler 3.
- Add custom folders one by one – if you have plugins on external drives, add one folder at a time, pointing directly to the folder containing the VST/AU plugins if possible. Scan each folder individually and verify the plugins appear before adding another. Try to avoid selecting the root of the drive or folders containing large libraries, as these aren’t scanned.
This will narrow the PluginScanner’s scope, giving it a better chance of completing the scan and making it easier to pinpoint any problematic paths.
Let us know how it goes once you’ve tried this! Cheers.
Hi Steven, many thanks for your patience with this.
I’ve tried option 1 above as a starting point as suggested, but I’m afraid it’s still not scanning.
Andy
Hi @andycarney, thanks for the update.
Since the scan isn’t starting even on the default folders, it seems like something else might be preventing it from launching. As a final troubleshooting step, you could try the following:
- Delete files as per the clean install instructions.
- Restart your machine.
- Install Scaler 3.2 fresh.
- Run the plugin scan with no custom VST paths.
Optional: you could try scanning only one format at a time (e.g. only VST) to see if that helps. - If the scan completes successfully, you can then repeat the process with other formats ticked.
- If that works, add custom paths one by one as per step 2 of my previous reply.
If none of this resolves the issue, I’m afraid I’m not sure what else to suggest. We haven’t had other reports of the scanner getting stuck like this, so it may be something specific to your setup. Cheers.
Hi Steven, still no joy I’m afraid. I tried just scanning VST’s without any custom path.
I’m not in any way a computer person, but looking at it logically, Scaler does get installed at the end of the process: it’s just its inability to scan the plugins etc. I’ve double checked the security settings again, and Scaler has “Full Disc Access”.
Interestingly enough, when I went through the process for a clean install, when deleting the suggested files there was no /User/AndyCarney/Library/Application Support/Scaler3.settings file.
Once I completed the installation (without scanning plugins) I went back to see whether this file was now present - and it isn’t.
Could this be related?
Andy
Hi Andy, that file is created when you open Scaler 3 in standalone. If you’ve only ever loaded the plugin version in Logic Pro, it’s normal that you won’t see it.
Another thing you could try is Settings > Preferences > Rescan Your Plugins from the standalone version. Cheers.
Hi Steven, problem solved !
I opened the standalone version, then instead of scanning for VST’s to start with, I tried scanning AU’s then VST3’s. Closed down, then opened Scaler within my DAW and the instruments are now there !
Mad way to go about it but it seems to have worked for whatever reason.
Again, many thanks for your patience throughout all of this
Cheers
Andy
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Hi Andy, great news - glad we got there! I hope you can now just enjoy using Scaler 3 and make some music 
I am having same issue. Done in standalone, ableton, and logic.
Also, I don’t know if it’s worth mentioning, but when I scan for AU’s separately, it is scanning all these file names I’ve never seen before, and that don’t even look remotely familiar.
Anyway, I’ve tried all the suggested methods you listed above. Any clue? Is 3.3 working on any of these bug fixes?
Hi, my issue has now been resolved but was driving me mad !
What finally worked for me was a totally clean reinstall. Then opened up the standalone version of Scaler. But, then when I went to preferences and “Rescan Your Plugins” I unticked every option except AU, That started scanning, so I then repeated but only ticked VST3 (so I’m doing it one at a time, but in reverse order to the pop up tick box). I was then able to add Custom VST Paths, again scanning one at a time. Once complete, I shut down my Mac and restated: Opened up Logic and all my instruments were there in Scaler. Let me know how you get on. Cheers